Yekaterinburg’s head of election commission calls faked the letter Roizman not allowed to participate in election

September 08, 2013, 8:58 UTC+3The letters printed out on the election commission’s letterheads and sealed and signed as if officially, were distributed on Saturday in the city’s several districts

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Photo ITAR-TASS / Anatoly Strunin

YEKATERINBURG, September 8 (Itar-Tass) - Yekaterinburg’s Chairman of the Election Commission Ilya Zakharov applied law enforcement authorities regarding a mass distribution of a faked letter as if signed by him, which claims rejected registration of a mayoral candidate representing the Civil Platform party Eugene Roizman.

The letters printed out on the election commission’s letterheads and sealed and signed as if officially, were distributed on Saturday in the city’s several districts. The letter reads that the resignation of the registration “is caused by the present norms of the legislation, where persons, who had been sentenced for grave crimes, do not have a right to participate in elections.” Thus, the letter reads, all the votes supporting Roizman, will not be taken in account.

“Earlier, the prosecution began an inspection against a mayoral candidate Roizman. But nobody has ever rejected his registration, and would not. The election commission has nothing to do with this letter,” Ilya Zakharov told Itar-Tass. “No doubt, we shall address the law enforcement authorities regarding the distribution of this letter.”

Those, who have distributed the fake letter “are adamant people living in Yekaterinburg are lazy and silly, as they must have targeted the audience of the kind,” Roizman said in an interview with Itar-Tass. “I believe the election commission’s chairman should make an emergency announcement on all available channels. Clearly, nobody has rejected me. But as the letters were distributed the night before the election, they may confuse the electors and affect dramatically the election results.”

Zakharov said the mayoral election in the city continued without incidents or emergencies. All the 565 polling stations opened doors in time - at 08:00. As many as 14 candidates are running for the position of the city’s mayor, and three of those have the same family name.